9 Reasons why YOU should watch the Big South.
Giving 9 reasons based on Non Conference trends and more for YOU to watch Big South conference play.
As we enter conference play, some peoples sentiment and reasons to watch CBB falls.
And truly I understand it. NFL playoffs are ramping up, NASCAR begins their season in February, NBA season start to enter it’s home stretch, and now UFC is becoming easier to watch.
All that along with the Big South being a 1 bid league, many might not care to watch Big South hoops until March 4th but I’m here to change that sentiment.
1. Exciting Games
The first one comes pretty easy, the Big South is simply exciting.
This season so far according to KenPom, Big South teams have been involved in 5 of the Top 100 most exciting games.
Maryland Eastern Shore at Longwood (20th)
Coastal Carolina at Winthrop (26th)
UNC Asheville at Western Carolina (50th)
Winthrop at George Mason (59th)
Winthrop at Arkansas (68th)
As you may notice, 3 of those are involving the Winthrop Eagles.
The reason I singled out Winthrop, outside of them having 3/5, since 2020 they have had at least 1 conference game in the Top 100 most exciting rankings. Including the #2 most exciting game last season against Charleston Southern.
But it’s not just Winthrop whom makes the conference exciting. Since 2010, when KenPom tracked excitement. The Big South has had teams involved in 18 Top 10 ranked matchups in a season, 10 of which coming in conference play and or the conference tournament.
2. The Big South Space Race
In the late 50’s and early 60’s, the United States and the former USSR were involved in the Space Race. Now in 2025-26, we have a similar race in the Big South between High Point and Winthrop.
High Point vs Winthrop Rankings in NCAA Tournament Metrics:
KenPom: High Point - 101st / Winthrop - 111th
NET Ranking: Winthrop - 105th / High Point - 115th
Records between Q1/Q2: High Point 0-1 / Winthrop 0-3
Records between Q3/Q4: Winthrop 5-1 / High Point 7-2
While High Point seemingly on paper has a better roster, they have a had some slip ups against App State, SIU and UAB. While Winthrop has looked good when playing up against teams like Arkansas, Nebraska and George Mason.
And with the 1 seed being MASSIVELY important on having an easier route to the final, the season series between these two could decide who heads to the NCAA Tournament and who heads to either the NIT, CBI, CIT, or just heads home all together.
With both teams likely to enter conference play with 9+ wins, it would be likely to believe one of these two schools would represent the Big South in March Madness, and maybe one in the NIT or CBI.
3. The Battle to AVOID the “Play-In”
While not viewed as a “play-in” game by the Big South. I think many Big South fans and casual fans view the 8-9 game as a play in game, as it’s the only game in the 1st round of the Big South tournament.
As we enter conference play, teams ranked 3rd through 7th on KenPom are only separated by around 30 places and 8th is only about 30 places back from 7th.
And seemingly like the past few season, the Big South tournament could have seeding and even more decided by the results to end the regular season.
4. Portal Darlings
As much as I hate already bringing it up, you will see some shake up in these rosters next season, including very likely your favorite team losing their best player, or likely in a lot cases, players.
There is two ways to look at this.
You get to see as much of your favorite player while you still have them.
Or
For those who might be a HM fan, you can see players that your team might add next season.
The Big South has produced some KEY pieces for HM teams in the past few seasons and will have a ton of coaches eyes this offseason if/when player hope in.
Who will follow in the footsteps of Jordan Marsh, Buddy Simmons and many more before them to become big stars and get BIG money in the portal.
5. Record Breakers and Ceiling Breakers
Already, just in the non conference part of the season we have seen multiple records get broken and some nearly get broken.
The records broken so far have been:
Charleston Southern Team Made 3’s: 24
(Team record was 21 in 2013)Charleston Southern Single Player Made 3’s: Armari Carraway with 11
(Record was 10 by Tahlik Chavez in 2022)Radford and Big South Scoring Record: Dennis Parker Jr with 53
(Radford was since 1990, Big South Record was since Chris Clemons in 2017)Along with those records, we have NCAA ceiling’s being broken at USC Upstate with Jafeth Martinez being the first Honduras-born D1 basketball player to earn a scholarship.
Along with those, we have seen a ton of near misses on record breaking performances along with arena specific performances. While breaking records aren’t a guarantee, especially versus step competition, anything is possible on any given night.
6. ANYTHING can happen.
I will start this reason the same was I ended my last reasoning, ANYTHING is possible on any given night.
Just this season, we have seen Big South teams commit three epitome of brutalities, while also being on the receiving end of two themselves.
While the epitome won’t come in conference play, similar results could very well happen.
Even when looking at like opponents, this vision becomes murky.
UNC Asheville has beaten App State, App State beat High Point.
USC Upstate has beaten Coastal Carolina, Coastal Carolina beat Winthrop twice.
High Point has beaten Western Carolina, Western Carolina beat UNC Asheville.
If conference play is anything like non conference, it could be one of the best in recent history.
7. Player of the Year Race is WIDE OPEN.
One good benefit of the transfer portal, is some studs fall through the cracks and make their way down to the ranks of leagues like the Big South.
Due in part to that fact, the Big South Player of the Year race is as open as ever.
You have Charleston Southern’s Brycen Blaine who has won 2 Big South Player of the Week Awards and is leading the Big South in PPG while being 4th in RPG and 3rd in APG.
High Point’s Cam’ron Fletcher who also has won 2 Big South Player of the Week Awards, even sharing one with Blaine. Fletcher has been a massive of reason for High Point’s successes this season while being 3rd in both PPG and RPG.
You also have players like Logan Duncomb, Mason Bendinger and Dennis Parker Jr and the Preseason POTY, Toyaz Solomon all building very solid cases to winning the award as well.
8. YOU can be the 6th man.
We hear all the time about the 12th man in football, Seattle and Texas A&M even celebrate their fans as that.
Well, in basketball you can’t be the 12th man, but you SURE can be the 6th man.
In a league where home court matter so much, YOU can provide a direct impact.
Since the 20-21 season, only ONE Big South champion has lost more than ONE home game that being the 23-24 Longwood Lancers, which happened to have High Point their 2nd home loss of that season (despite being considered neutral by the NCAA)
If you want your team to succeed, one way you can directly impact the game is being there and MAKING NOISE FOR YOUR TEAM.
9. REVENUE.
I can already see the comments. “I can’t make it out to a game.” and trust me I 100% understand. Jobs take up a ton of time, some people have kids to take care off.
Luckily being there isn’t the only way to help your team succeed.
In this new era, one thing is KING, and it’s not culture or academics, it’s MONEY.
As much as some teams want to say, it’s still about culture, it’s about the degree. The mask has been pulled off college athletics, it’s about MONEY.
One way to boost your schools pockets without giving money to the NIL collective, or cutting a $1 million dollar check. WATCHING THE GAMES.
While 1 viewer might not change much, it’s the same mindset of One Day? or Day One?
I would rather be the Day One viewer, trying to help my alma mater or local school, then thinking “One day, I will go see that game.” or “One day, we will have enough money to compete in the league.”
And to those with school not opting in to rev share, maybe your school would see the fan support as MORE of a reason to OPT-IN or even just invest more into athletics.